Harmful Effects of Vegetable Oils Depends on Genetics

Many experts have advocated the avoidance of vegetable oils due to their high omega-6 content and potential inflammatory effects on the body. It turns out, however, that the magnitude of negative effects that vegetable oils have on the body depends largely on genetics.

A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition involved 60 subjects consuming vegetable oils over the course of four weeks. Inflammation either increased or decreased after regular consumption of the vegetable oil depending on which variation of the FADS1 gene that subjects carried.

Additionally, the pattern was also witnessed when analyzing the correlation between vegetable oil intake, inflammation, and FADS1 variant in 1300 middle-aged men.

Conclusions

Different people metabolizes the same foods in different ways and genetics play a large role in determining which foods are healthy or unhealthy for you.

References

Lankinen, M. A., Fauland, A., Shimizu, B. I., Ågren, J., Wheelock, C. E., Laakso, M., … & Pihlajamäki, J. (2019). Inflammatory response to dietary linoleic acid depends on FADS1 genotype. The American journal of clinical nutrition109(1), 165-175.